When Bethany Roditi moved to Swampscott nearly a decade ago, she learned that Congregation Shirat Hayam once had meal assistance programs for those going through hard times, but, as she put it, “they weren’t in action when I moved here.”
“People here have lived here for a long time. They have lots of family. They have lots of friends, and they didn’t need the help,” Roditi said.
But she wanted to still do something.
Roditi and a team of congregants decided to reimagine the idea of a meal train or dinner support network, creating a group of volunteer cooks called Shir Chesed. She calls the group “an extension of the Rabbi.”
“We’re your synagogue. We want to be a caring community that gives Chesed, that shows you we are. It’s just a gesture of kindness,” Roditi said. “Sometimes it really fulfills a need, but sometimes you may not need it and we’ll send the chicken soup anyway.”
Now Shir Chesed has been in existence for eight years. The term “shir chesed” is Hebrew for “song of loving kindness.” When Roditi and her co-chair, Karen Madorsky, first started the group, a few people volunteered in small ways. Today, it’s far more comprehensive, with more than 80 participants offering different levels of care.
“If there’s an incident or an event when unfortunately somebody dies or somebody is in the hospital or rehab or — better news — somebody has a baby, then the office tells us,” Madorsky said.
The four organizers, which include Roditi, Madorsky as well as Jerry and Patricia Kreitzer, then share the information with their 13 team leaders who then decide who will complete the job.
“We have to act fast because if someone passes within 24 hours they can have the funeral. We’ve worked on this,” Roditi said.
Having multiple teams allows the program to keep going strong and reach more people, Madorsky said. In previous iterations before Shir Chesed, people would burn out. The burden of cooking meals would be on just one or two congregants.
“We have about 500 or 600 congregants, so it’s grown a lot too,” Roditi said.
Each meal that Shir Chesed assists with is catered to the congregant in need. The group has a list of services, such as providing meals, soup, challah, cards, visits after illnesses, welcoming new babies and support during shivas.
“Some times if they’re getting ready for the shiva (a period of mourning) we ask if we can help with that. We don’t necessarily always cook,” Roditi said.
Sue Weiss, who coordinates the Chesed Kitchen portion of the program, said that while it’s a sad time for a lot of people being able to help at a shiva is one of her favorite parts of the group.
“It’s the feeling,” Weiss said. “We’re able to be there.”
Weiss also leads the Chesed Kitchen, which prepares lasagnas, kugels, soups, and brownies to keep in the freezer, “just in case something comes up.”
At the time of discussing with the Swampscott Tides, Weiss had about four deliveries to make of soup and challah.
Shir Chesed also a longer-need option by setting up a meal train.
“We call people — not just those in Shir Chesed — and we use this online site called Take Them A Meal and we help them build it,” Roditi said.
Roditi also explained that the efforts can unofficially extend beyond the meals or shiva set up, such as if the group sees the person returning to the synagogue “we go sit with them because we know what they’ve been through.”
“Everybody is needy. We’re just human beings,” Weiss said.
The group also often checks in with the afflicted individuals at least for 30 days, or whatever time period is appropriate.
“And at the end of the (Jewish calendar) year for all the people, we make bags of challah and honey, and we write a note to them, such as ‘we know you had a tough year and we hope it’s sweeter next year,’” Roditi said.
Over the past seven years, 500 families have been supported by Shir Chesed.
Weiss said she gets as much out of the program as those that the group is helping.
“This is so important for our community, and we want our community to be strong and grow,” Weiss said. “The need was there. We just filled it.”
